As the largest military and political alliance in the world at present - NATO , it seems to give the world a solid impression.
But in fact, there is a pair of feuds inside NATO: Turkish and Greece . These two countries not only have deep historical grievances, but have still had armed conflicts after joining NATO. They are still at a strife over the division of territorial waters and the issues of Cyprus .
▲NATO
Whether it is the official Greek and Turkish countries, or the civilians around the world, they all believe that they are two completely different countries and nations.
Türkiye is an ancient descendant of the Turkic that originated in Asia and believes in Islam ; the ancestors of the Greeks were ancient Greeks, the incubator of Western civilization, and believe in Orthodox .
Both are incompatible in all aspects.
▲Although both are NATO members, Greece and Turkey have hidden dangers of war
However, in early 2021, this view of the world was subverted. The American Ancestry gene sequencing company conducted genetic sequencing of Turks in different regions.
sequencing found that the genes dominant in the Turks did not come from ancient Asian Turks, but from Anatolia ( Asia Minor ), and there are many genes from various European regions, especially the Balkans.
The so-called Anatolian indigenous people are descendants of the ancient Greeks . In other words, the most important ancestor of modern Turks was actually the ancient Greeks, and this feud was actually a family.
So, were the Turks descendants of ancient Turks or ancient Greeks?
▲Modern Greeks have continued most of the genes and culture of the ancient Greeks
1111111113-3 Hellenistic
Turkey spans Europe and Asia, and 97% of its territory is the Anatolian Peninsula in Asia, also known as Asia Minor Peninsula .
The earliest written record about this place comes from "Homera's Epic". The famous Trojan War took place in Asia Minor. Both sides of the war were ancient Greeks, and they were the earliest residents of Asia Minor.
▲Asian Peninsula, Asia Minor,
Ancient Greek civilization was born around 3,000 to 2,000 BC. The ancient Greeks who were good at sailing not only established many city-states around the Aegean Sea, but also went deep into the Black Sea coast.
Byzantine and Troy , etc. are all one of their colonial city-states in the Asia Minor Peninsula.
▲Troy is a Greek city-state built in Asia Minor
Ancient Greek city-state was built by the sea and made a living by trade. It did not push its forces into the inland of Anatolia .
In the next thousand years, West Asia successively rose up Persian and other nations, conquering or annexing city-states far away from Greece.
The ancient Greeks in these city-states began to merge with the local ethnic groups and became one of the sources of indigenous genes. This was the first time that the Greek genes were largely integrated into Asia Minor , or the "Hellenization" of Asia Minor.
▲Ancient Greek city-states are spread all over Mediterranean
In the 4th century BC, Macedonia led by Alexander first unified Greece and then conquered Persia, establishing an unprecedented empire that transcended Europe, Asia and Africa. A large number of Greeks, as military and political officials of the empire, flowed into West Asia and took root. This was the second time that "Hellenicization" in Asia Minor.
This time, Hellenicization not only had a profound impact on Asia Minor, but also the whole world. Buddhism originated from India, , introduced to China during the Eastern Han Dynasty, has many Hellenic styles in art fields such as Buddha statues.
▲The Buddha statues introduced to China have actually brought the Hellenistic style
In 146 BC, Greek region was conquered by Roman Empire , but Greek culture got a chance to expand on a larger scale.
In 395 AD, the Roman Empire split into two halves of the east and west. Eastern Roman Empire The capital of Constantinople was expanded by Byzantine, so it is also called Byzantine Empire .
not only split the Roman Empire, but also Byzantine Church quickly developed to compete with Roman Church . Eastern Europe, West Asia and most parts of the Balkans are under the jurisdiction of the Byzantine Church.
▲The Millennium Empire Byzantine is actually a Greek country
Byzantine Empire is nominally the Roman Empire, but it is actually highly "Hellenicized". Even the emperor claims to be Greek. The official language is Greek . The Byzantine church preaches in Greek, and most of the books left behind also use Greek words.
Asia Minor As the core territory of the empire, there are a large number of Greeks living in it. This is the third Hellenization.
During these three Hellenistic processes, especially the last time, not only lasted for thousands of years, but also because the Greeks had a great political and economic advantage, thus becoming the mainstream gene of the indigenous peoples in Asia Minor.
Simply put, it means that the indigenous people of Asia Minor have become Greeks.
2. The mixed bloodline of Turkic
Asia Minor Peninsula originally had no relationship with Turkic . The Turkic people rose at the foot of Asian Altai Mountains in the 6th century AD. In just a few decades, they became the overlord of the grassland. The territory reached Great Xing'an Mountains in the east, reaching Central Asia in the west, approaching south to China Great Wall , and collided with the two dynasties of China Sui and Tang .
Like the earlier grassland overlords such as Xiongnu , Xianbei , etc., the Turks were not a single ethnic group, but a general term for grassland ethnic groups. Any nomadic people or tribes that surrender to the Turks would be called Turks. Yellow people and white people live together and say Turkic .
▲The Turks were born at the wrong time and were forced to embark on the road to migration westward
Due to their vast territory, the Turks soon split into the East and West Khanate. What’s even more unfortunate is that the Turks met the talented and stubborn , Emperor Taizong of Tang , Li Shimin .
Tang army first destroyed Eastern Turkic Khanate in 630, and then captured Western Turkic Khanate in 657. The remaining Turkic people were forced to embark on the road to migration westward.
Since the 7th century, Islam swept across the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa with Arab Empire . However, after the Arab Empire split, the Turkic people who accepted Islam took advantage of the situation to rise again and established multiple khanates in Central Asia and West Asia.
One of them Seljuks seized the Asia Minor Peninsula in the 11th century, and this was the first time the Turks ruled the land.
▲
Chinese and Western Asia Turkish Khanate is also composed of many nomadic peoples and intermarries each other. The most important feature is that Turkish and believe in Islam . The ethnic components are not valued very much. The characteristics of yellow and white people can be found in Turkic people. The languages of these Turkic ethnic groups are also different, forming a complex Turkic language .
For the next two hundred years, Byzantine Empire joined forces with Crusaders in the European Christian world, repeatedly competing for the West Asian region, causing neither Turkic and the later rising Mongol to form a stable rule on the Asia Minor Peninsula. The main population is still the descendant of Greeks , and believe in the Orthodox Church developed from the Byzantine Church.
▲Architecture played an extremely important role in conquering Constantinople
Under the hundreds of years of offensive of Turkish , the territory of Byzantine Empire was gradually compressed to a very small area around the capital Constantinople.
▲The huge Ottoman Empire completely monopolized the land channel for East-West trade
The Turkish 's troops reached directly to the middle and lower reaches of the Danube , which once made the whole of Europe tremble.
The Christian world had to unite to resist the Turks and limit its territory to the Balkans, while Greece and Asia Minor became the hinterland of the Ottoman Empire.
III. National melting pot
Ottoman is an empire with Islam as the main body. The ruling class and army are mainly Turkish, but they only account for a minority of the total population. The lower class people have it all ethnic groups and bear heavy taxes and corvee.
Ottoman allows other religions to exist and does not force the people to convert to Islam, but converts can be exempted from half of the taxes and have more opportunities to enter the regime. These are quite attractive to ordinary people, and many people have become Muslims because of this.
▲Sulaiman the Great, who expanded his territory in Europe, was one of the greatest Ottoman Sultan
Turks have always retained the customs of nomadic peoples, and adult men have to join the army to fight. This system of all people is a soldier, while ensuring that the Ottomans rose from a tribe to a huge empire, it also caused them to lose a large population of their own tribe.
In order to continue to maintain the size of the army and meet the needs of fighting everywhere, Ottoman Empire had to recruit non-Turkish nations to join the army. Greek or every family of other ethnic groups must provide a boy who joins the Imperial Army after long training and conversion to Islam. This system is called the "blood tax".
▲The Greeks who believe in Orthodox Church hate the blood tax system but are helpless
These soldiers enjoy the same rights as authentic Turks in terms of promotion, intermarriage, etc., and can join military and political institutions, or even the Guards of Sudan, and are accepted as authentic Turks, or are turkized.
After retirement, Turkish soldiers can receive preferential policies from the empire, have a certain social status, and occupy more and more social resources, thereby attracting more locals to change their beliefs and Turkishization.
▲The martial Albanians have a high status in the Ottoman Empire
Some ethnic groups in remote areas, such as Albanian on the Balkans, not only Islamized, but also made great achievements in the imperial wars for many years, resulting in many Albanian nobles holding important positions in the Sudan court.
In history, there were 25 Ottoman prime ministers from Albania, as well as a larger number of middle and high-level officials, who brought the Balkan genes.
In addition, Ottoman Empire has been in war with European countries for many years, and is eager to introduce advanced European military and technology, and spares a lot of money to recruit European craftsmen, crew and other technicians to help the Turkish army improve its technical level.
▲The key weapon to conquer Constantinople Urban cannon was made by Europeans
Therefore, people from all parts of Europe, especially those in Southeast Europe, , with relatively loose political structure, took root in the capital , Istanbul and surrounding areas, and brought some European genes. For example, the founder who blasted the bronze cannon from the solid wall of Constantinople was Hungarian Urban.
Overall, the "Turkization" of The Ottoman Empire was successful. Many Greek descendants who converted to Islam from Orthodox Church no longer even remember being Greeks and only recognized that they were Turks.
▲The blood tax system has led to the extremely complex ethnic composition of the Ottoman army
For the Ottoman Empire, controlling the "Turkization" of the nobles and people of all ethnic groups helped to maintain the ruling order of the empire. The entire empire became a melting pot of nations. No matter what ethnic group it was before, as long as it was "Turkization", they were all considered Turkish.
However, this Turkization is only in terms of culture and religion. The genes of the local people have not changed. Instead, with the decrease of Turkey's population, it may be further strengthened. This is the case for both Greece and Asia Minor.
▲Central Asian countries with the Turkic language family are typical yellow people
Even so, there are still a considerable number of Greeks in the Ottoman Empire who maintain the Orthodox faith, endure heavy taxation and discrimination, and are unwilling to "Turkization".
However, the Ottoman Empire tried its best to limit the inheritance of the Greek language and history, so that these Greeks slowly forgot the splendid culture that their ancestors once had.
4. Anti-host is guest
With the Ideological Enlightenment and Renaissance , Europe quickly led the way in military, technology and other aspects, but the Ottoman Empire continued to fight and gradually declined since the 18th century.
The Greek national consciousness was finally awakened after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War in the early 19th century.
Overseas Greeks re-transmitted Greek and Greek culture into the Greek land through various societies, prompting the Greek descendants in the Ottoman territory to become increasingly eager for independence. Among them, the largest " Friendship Club " has more than 80,000 members in Greece.
▲Greece independence has a strong religious color
Due to being trapped in the pincer attack of Christian countries Britain, France and Russian , Ottoman Empire was forced to recognize Greek independence in 1830.
At that time, there were more than 1 million Greeks who believed in Orthodox Church living in the Ottoman territory. Greece not only wanted to liberate these compatriots, but also planned to retake the capital of the former Byzantine Empire Constantinople .
▲The atrocities of the Ottoman army suppressed the Greek uprising the hatred of the two tribes
Throughout the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to retreat on the Balkans, and Bulgaria , Serbian and other Slavic ethnic groups were independent one after another.
After World War I , the Ottoman Empire fell apart and almost destroyed its country.
Turkish national hero Kemal rose in the crisis of national demise, cheering the Turks up again. In addition, the British and French powers were unwilling to weaken Türkiye too much, which made the Greeks' dreams fail.
▲In 1923, the Greek army was only a few dozen kilometers away from Constantinople
rose from Ottoman Empire to exchange populations in Greece and Turkey. On the one hand, the Asian Minor Peninsula was "Turkized", while the Greek-dominated genes continued, and were not diluted by the sparsely populated Turks of their own tribe.
According to the results of the American Ancestry Gene Sequencing Company, the proportion of Greek genes in the Asia Minor Peninsula is 75.4%, while the proportion of Asian Turkic genes in the West Asia Minor is as high as 89.8%, and the proportion of Asian Turkic genes in these two places is 24.6% and 10.2% respectively.
▲Turkish appearance is very different from Asian yellow people
Istanbul and surrounding genes have the highest degree of mixing, Greek genes account for 21.8%, and Turkic genes account for 7.6%. The genes of ethnic groups such as Armenian , Iranian , Georgian , and Georgian , which were conquered by the Ottomans are all higher than those of the Turks.
In other words, the Turkic genes from Asia are not the main gene source for modern Turks.
5. Not willing to be lonely
These are the results obtained by Ancestry's gene test in 2021, but they are not recognized by Turkey as the investor.
From a certain perspective, this result is very different from the expected results of Türkiye and will naturally not be accepted.
Today, Türkiye can only be regarded as a major country in the Middle East , with a land area of 780,000 square kilometers and a population of 83 million. However, Türkiye is a country with dreams, after all, its ancestors, the Ottoman Empire was once a world-class power.
▲Turkey was almost completely dismembered after World War I
As early as the late 19th century, the decline of the Ottoman Empire was already very obvious. In order to arouse national pride, some people in its country began to advocate "Great Turkism" and wanted to establish a Turkic national alliance.
In their eyes, all ethnic groups that speak Turkic language belong to the category of Turks, and the Ottomans are the spiritual home of all Turks.
Later some Turks inherited this idea, but because Turkey's national strength is far from enough to support this ambition, "Great Turkism" only stays in the field of thought, but is always stung.
▲ Kemalism is still affecting Turkey's politics and culture
Since entering the new century, the world pattern has undergone major changes again. The powerful Soviet Union no longer exists, and the influence of the United States is gradually declining. The Middle East, Eastern Europe and other regions have fallen into chaos one after another, giving Türkiye a glimpse of new opportunities.
Turkey has multiple tags: NATO member states, Islamic countries, Middle Eastern countries, and the Turkish Strait , which is extremely important in strategic position, makes Turkey's position on the international stage quite unique, and can get along well between the camps, and no one is willing to offend it, but instead wants to win it over.
▲Türkiye has recognized the Huns as its ancestors, and its ambitions are really great
Therefore, "Great Turkism" has found a market again in Turkey, and some politicians want to use it to enhance their international influence. If Türkiye can become the leader of the alliance, it will be enough to compete with the United States, Russia and Europe and become the world's top.
but what happened was against my wishes. The gene sequencing results proved that the Turks did not even have a quarter of the genes of ancient Turks, but instead they were a "family" with the Greeks.
In fact, this phenomenon is not surprising. Since the Ottoman Empire conquered Greece and Asia Minor in the 15th century, the two nations have been constantly integrating, and you are in me and I are in me.
▲The old Chinese saying says that was a five hundred years ago, and it seems quite appropriate to describe Greece and Turkey's
"Feal" , more because of the sharp religious and political opposition. Since the 19th century, both countries have had a rising stage of nationalism. In order to enhance national pride and strengthen national self-confidence, they particularly emphasize the "pure knot nature" of their own nation.
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